PIL seeks removal of Manish Sisodia as Delhi’s Deputy CM

New Delhi, Feb 14 (IANS) A PIL was filed in the Delhi High Court on Tuesday seeking to set aside the alleged “illegal appointment” of Manish Sisodia as the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi — the post which it said “doesn’t exists in the eyes of the law”.

The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has “no power to delegate his authority and create a new post, which is not defined by the Constitution of India and the GNCTD Act, 1991”.

“The provisions of the GNCTD Act, 1991, are crystal clear in nature and do not speak anything about the post/ office of the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, which is being currently held illegally by Manish Sisodiya even without taking an oath of office and secrecy,” said the plea filed by an advocate Vibhor Anand.

The plea, while seeking to declare Sisodia’s appointment illegal, also sought direction that appointment made by him, including Senior Public Prosecutor and Additional Public Prosecutors, be set aside.

“Manish Sisodia in the illegal capacity of the Deputy Chief Minister has passed hundreds of illegal orders, such as appointment of Rahul Mehra as Senior Standing Counsel, Delhi High Court, and various other Additional Standing Counsels. All such orders passed by Sisodia are illegal and void ab initio and are liable to be struck down immediately,” the plea stated.

The post of Deputy Chief Minister has no sanctity of law, it said, adding that even Lt. Governor’s approval was not taken to create the post.

“Lt. Governor of the NCT of Delhi is wholly responsible for the administration of the NCT of Delhi within the prescribed framework under Article 239AA and Article 239AB, along with the GNCTD Act, 1991,” it added.

The lawyer questioned whether the Chief Minister of Delhi has the power to create a parallel post equivalent to his own without the approval of the Lt. Governor and the Parliament of India, and furthermore, delegate all his powers to the Deputy Chief Minister without any such approval.

It also sought direction for Lt. Governor, being the administrator of Delhi, to constitute a committee to review all the orders passed by Sisodia from the date of his appointment.

The plea was filed against the Ministry of Home Affairs, Lt. Governor and Sisodia.